Members of sports clubs across the country are increasingly using smart cards or key fobs with a 13.56 passive RFID tag to access facilities and buy goods and services.
All members are issued with their own personal smart card or key fob, which allows access to tennis, and basketball courts, swimming pools, sunbeds, saunas and cafeterias.
Each RFID tag complies with ISO standards and can be programmed to allow or deny access to any area of your sports centre. Clubs implementing the technology have seen savings in excess of £40,000 annually due to memberships being updated more regularly (the system catches expired memberships when those members try to access the club), and to payments for goods and services inside the club being easier to make.
The RFID-enabled cards and fobs admit members into the club, and to certain sections within the compound. Depending on how many distinct areas there are within your centre, these can be distinguished by simply placing RFID-enabled access turnstiles or gates at strategic entry and exit points. Examples include tennis courts, parking facilities and locker rooms.
Interrogators at the turnstiles capture a cardholder’s access rights, as do other readers situated at the doors. If a member did not book the spa or the sauna, for example, he also has no access to these areas.
Most of the interrogators are wired to the back-end system. Doorway RFID readers, such as those at locker rooms, can be run as an offline reader that stores each member’s access rights.
Large sports clubs with many members often have trouble controlling individuals’ movements throughout the compound and ensuring memberships are up-to-date. Not only does an RFID access system allow you to track where each member is and when, it also can automatically alert the system administrator when a membership has expired.
The RFID tag embedded in a member’s card or fob holds a unique ID number, linked to the user’s personal data in the back-end system. Access rights are stored in the reader device, and so the smart card or fob is not required when these rights are changed.
If you are looking to install an RFID-enabled access system in your sports centre, or simply require further information or advice on security solutions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.